‘Political vendetta’ or ‘breach of protocol’, is the latest tug-of-war between Prime Minister Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. This time it has gone beyond petty politics between BJP-ruled and non-BJP States. It has engulfed the country’s bureaucracy leading to a debate wherein a section bat for former Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay and the other against him.

True to her style, Mamata has hit out at New Delhi’s recalling of Bandyopadhyay and sending him a showcase notice under the DMA seeking his explanation for skipping a cyclone review meeting, after he had resigned and become her advisor. The Centre, she said cannot ‘force an officer to join it without the permission of the State government…it’s not the battle of Bandyopadhyay. This is a battle for all bureaucracy. I can’t accept this.”

In his reply, former CS has said he was scheduled to visit cyclone-affected areas and was following his CM’s orders. So was he right or wrong? Where does one draw the line? A section of civil servants argues the Centre over-reacted as it is smarting under its recent poll defeat, while others say by not being present to brief the PM, he transgressed professional lines. The rule book is being interpreted differently. What is static is the bitter Modi-Mamata feud. And Didi never misses an opportunity to use it to the hilt and more ferocious.

The incident, she says, is a great blunder of the Centre. “They want to bulldoze State government totally. They want to play political vendetta… What do you want, Mr Busy Prime Minister? Mr Mann Ki Baat Prime Minister? You want to finish me? Can you do it? Never and ever…” Guess, protocol and stature demand Modi should ignore the vendetta.